If I Had Loved You Sooner
by labhum
Summary: He's a doctor with a past. Everyone knows Edward Cullen doesn't date. He hasn't for at least 10 years and everyone knows why. So why it is that a much younger mysterious college student turns up at his family's home claiming to be his girlfriend?
1. Chapter 1

**Plot: Edward is a doctor living in his hometown Forks. Everyone knows that Edward doesn't date. Not since Tanya. So, when a distressed college girl turns up at his family's house claiming to be his girlfriend, trouble ensues.**

"Honestly, I'm going to pull my hair out if he keeps this up!" the little pixie like woman tugs at the ends of her spiked hair.

Her husband sweetly reaches for her hand and tugs it down into her lap while she groans and moans.

"Darlin', that won't do anything but scare the kids," he tries to make light of the heavy atmosphere in the room full of people he had down up with.

Beside Jasper sat his wife of 11 years. Alice and Jasper had been together since he could remember, middle school he recalled may have been when they officially began dating. They now have a beautiful set of twins, Alexa and Elijah, named fondly after the initials of their mother and Uncle Edward. They were the first of their social group to get together, followed promptly by Rosalie and Emmett when they turned 17 and began thinking about college and their future, they realise neither could imagine a future without the other in it. They had now been married happily for 9 years with a little boy of their own, Caleb. Years and years later, Jasper would find out that Emmett had actually been the first to propose marriage out their friend circle and not himself as everyone believed. Emmett had actually asked Jasper's older Rosalie to marry him the day they began dating and that's how their feelings were exposed.

After them, Jacob had started dating a girl from their school, they didn't necessarily hang out with her but were happy for him nonetheless. And last of the lot to go steady were Edward and Tanya. Tanya was always a tag on to their little close-knit friend group, always running after her cousin Rosalie and trying to imitate her the best she could. She became an established member of their group after her and Edward became steady after years of being on and off. Jasper stopped his train of thought there. He would not dwell on that specific time right now.

The group of aforementioned person sit in the living room of Edward's enormous home, minus Jacob's high school girlfriend which ended around 2 years after it began. Alice and Emmett had a key to Edward's house for as long as they could remember. Being, the only single kid in the family and a workaholic at that, his siblings would often pop by and leave him meals and kept the key for emergency's sake.

Tonight, it was being used for all the wrong reasons.

The group sat frustrated in the living room. What was supposed to be a nostalgic and relaxing get together, having left the three kids at Carlisle and Esme's house, had turned into a vent session about Edward's lack of love life.

"She's not wrong! He's driving me up a wall too. How can a man be so…so UGH!" Edward's boulder of a brother tosses his head back in frustration, adding to the collective groan of the room.

"To be fair guys, if Ed is happy this way, maybe we should just let him do his thing. Y'know?"

Alice and Emmett glare in the Jacob's direction causing him to raise his hands up defensively. Having one Cullen on your case is bad enough, he didn't need to get on the wrong side of both of them.

"I agree with Emmett and Alice. It would be nice to see Edward happy again, after all these years." As Tanya, speaks, no one says anything or even replies. Her comment floods the memories of years gone by back into the forefront of everyone's mind. All those years ago, when Edward was happy.

Rosalie is the first to break the silence, "Unless we force a woman's tongue down his throat and a ring on his finger, I highly double he'll ever be willing to test out a relationship."

"Don't say that. That makes me so sad," Alice's broken voice pulls at Jasper's heart. He hated seeing his wife face even the smallest of sorrow, just as much as he hated seeing his best friend so lonely.

"All he does is work and come home, sleep, work some more. And the only time he has off from work is a month in the summer. That's it. He's my twin and I've been married for a decade with 2 kids whereas he hasn't even dated in just as long. This isn't how I wanted us to turn out. I wish he was happier, it's not fair," her continued rant only further dampens the mood. But that's what everybody had been thinking.

"Especially these past couple of weeks, he's been so on edge. Everything sets him off but he won't speak unless he's completely at his wits end. What kind of behaviour is that? I'm so worried for him,"

Just as Emmett was about to pipe in, the doorbell rings.

"Oh, that must be the Chinese. I'll get it,", Jacob jumps up from his seat and runs to the door, he could feel his mouth salivating already.

He swings the door open in anticipation with a wide smile on his face. On the other side isn't Laurent, the local Chinese delivery man, but a girl he had never seen.

She was a lot smaller than him but definitely taller than Alice, 5'6" he estimated. Her hair was different shades of brown, darker where the light from the door didn't reach, and she had extremely pale skin, to a worrying degree. She was dressed very nicely, a pair of jeans that were a few inches above her ankles with fraying edges and a simple white shirt tied together with a thick black buckled belt. He noticed these things in a quick sweeping glance in the time it took the smile to melt of his face and his stomach to rumble. The last thing he noticed was her red eyes.

There were tears streaming down her face and it was turning a red blotchy colour on her cheeks.

"Um…may I help you?" He manages out finally, failing to understand why a young crying girl was at the front door instead of his damn Chinese.

She opens her mouth, her arms still crossed over her chest, but a strangled sound is all that manages to escape it. One of her hands comes over mouth to keep the sound in and fresh tears start pouring out.

Jacob has no idea how to react or what to say. He becomes flustered quickly at her crying not knowing how to handle it and waits a few seconds before he decides its best to call for Alice, she knows how to handle people. 'She's a people person. Not me' he thinks.

Just as he was about to set his plan into motion, the girl moves her hand from her mouth and seems to have recovered herself enough to speak. She hadn't bothered to wipe her tears, it seemed pointless as a fresh bout would ruin her effort soon enough anyways.

"E...Edward…" She forces out, her eyes anew with unshed tears hanging on by dear life.

"Are you here to see Dr. Edward Cullen? I... are you a patient?" Jacob was sure this girl could only be a patient. Who the hell shows up at someone's house at this time of night like this?

She looks like she wants to say something, a lot actually, but her throat is caught again. All she can produce is sounds which cause more tears and the cycle continues.

She decides to take charge of the situation and rush past the 6'2" giant at the door and into the open living room just to the left of the door.

"Edward!" She calls out into the door alerting the occupants of the room to her presence.

Their bewildered expressions resemble that of Jacob's as they take in her appearance and demeanour, they all stand taking in the strange scene. Jacob had overcome his surprise and followed promptly into the room, being the least perplexed he thought.

"I think she's Edward's patient. I'm sorry but you really can't be in here right now. I can take you to the hospital but you can't just barge into someone's home"

Alice is the first to react as the girl looks around the room frantically, searching. She moves slowly toward the girl almost as if scared to surprise her, with her hands in front of her.

"Sweetie, we'll get you to the hospital, okay? You just need to calm down and let us help you…"

That's when the girl notices everyone's gaze. She had been looking past them, even the man at the door, none of the eyes were the ones she was searching for. But now, she notices the concern and slight fear in their eyes, as if she's someone crazy and potentially dangerous. Her frustration reaches its peak, her eyes are swollen from crying, her throat is scratchy and dry, her body tired from shaking with the sobs.

She forces her words out because she realises these people are likely to kick her out before she can even meet the man she's followed after.

"I'm not a patient…I'm not Edward's patient," It takes her two tries to make it loud enough for the people to hear. The small pixie like woman stops in her tracks but her arms remain outstretched.

"What?"

"I'm not his patient. Edward is…I'm…Edward's…girlfriend," The words brought emotion to her in a new wave, crashing over her and enveloping her. She was his girlfriend. She can't control her slow, hot, stream of tears anymore when they wanted to become a river flooding her. Holding it in for the drive here was hard enough that she had to pull over multiple times to compose herself, but saying those words for some reason made it all come crashing down.

Her strangled sounds turn into sobs, the gasping-for-air kind, and her arms tighten around her chest as if to keep her in one piece. She allows her herself to squat otherwise she might collapse and that would be bad because she doesn't actually want to become Edward's patient.

What she didn't notice were the even more bewildered looks of the six strangers in the room.

 **What do you guys think? Review :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hi guys, thank you for the great response. I'm really glad you're enjoying the story. I know you're hoping for a longer chapter but I felt like this was a good point to leave this one at.**

 **Enjoy and review:)**

Alice sat beside the girl on the couch, with a glass of water which she handed to the girl after she finally calmed down. Everyone else was still stood up, surrounding them but trying to give her enough space as not to overwhelm her. This was the third time that she had taken a sip of water and it seemed like she wouldn't start again this time.

After Alice had settled her on the couch several minutes ago, everyone had vacated the room in favour of the kitchen and decided on how to proceed. Rosalie and Tanya had been firmly against the idea of entertaining a complete stranger in the house who may well be dangerous or crazy. Whereas all the men had been united on the front that they wait for Edward to come home from the hospital and explain the situation since he should be finished with his shift by now and on his way home. And with three grown men that size, even if she was dangerous, she couldn't go up against them. And if she wasn't completely lying, they needed to hear an explanation.

"That's so stupid. We don't know if she has any weapon on her or if this is a planned thing. We read in the paper all the time about gangs sending people like her to test out the scene before attacking themselves. It would be silly for us to trust her and let her stay here." Tanya becomes more and more passionate as she rants on. Something about this girl just didn't sit right with her. Her youthful glow and simple beauty pissed her off. She was the opposite of Tanya, at least 3inches shorter, with straight brown hair contrasting with Tanya's curled blonde head, and her clothes! Why dare she even call herself Edward's girlfriend even if it was a clear lie. 'He would never stoop to that', she thinks maliciously but keeps the thought to herself.

"She's not wrong. A tad over dramatic but not wrong about her potentially being dangerous. And since when do we let strangers into our homes like this?" Rosalie pipes in.

"Rose, I understand what both of you are getting at but right now, she's here alone. And she looks like she's in bad shape. For all we know, she could be a patient or she could be telling the truth as unlikely as it may seem. And since when do we abandon those who need our help?" Jasper threw his sisters words back at her. She hardly looked dangerous. Scared but not dangerous.

"Jasper's right. I mean even if she is a bit dangerous, there are three men here twice her size and three ladies almost all bigger than her. She would be running for the hills herself by now if she had planned something." Jacob tries to help but is only met by a glare from the two blonde women in front of him. Even after Rosalie looks away, Tanya bore a hole into his skull.

"And most importantly, she knows Edward. How would she know where he lives if she didn't at least know him?" Emmett point deflects Rosalie but she bounces back with a compromise.

"Everyone knows where Edward lives. He's the town's beloved doctor and Forks is a small place. But you're right. Weighing it up, she can't be that much of a threat with all of us here if she is dangerous. And if she's not, then we need answers."

With that, the decision was made but Tanya remaining seething that everyone had turned in favour of the girl but still she trailed behind the group back into the living room.

The girl drank the entire glass this time and her breath came out in forced harsh sequences. Eventually, she managed to even out her breathing and sat extremely still as if trying to make up for her earlier sobbing, which Alice thought was ridiculous. She already felt back for this girl, seeing someone cry always got always emotional especially after having her kids. Even then, like the rest of her family, she couldn't help but think that the girl was lying. 'If not lying, at least deluded' she thought to herself. Because Alice was confident that she would be the first person to know if Edward was seeing someone, he would tell her. Surely, he would.

"What's your name?" Rosalie spits out with hostility as if the stranger had committed a crime directed at her. Alice gives her a reproaching look which doesn't affect her.

The girl doesn't say anything. The empty cup was clutched against her chest and she stared in front which was a view of Rosalie's feet in the distance.

"I asked what your name is." This time, there was even more force behind it. Enough to produce a small jump from the girl.

"Rose." Jasper reprimands his sister, he didn't need his uncanny ability to read people's emotions to know that this very young girl needed a moment. He gives her a look from beside Emmett and mouths to let Alice try, which she catches. Rosalie glares at Jasper and Alice both, if only they would let her try being the bad cop, she would get everything out of the lying intruder.

A few moments later, Alice tries.

"Sweetie, you need to give us some information so we can help you. I understand you're looking for my brother, Edward, and I'm sure there's a reason behind why you're so desperate to see him. Enough to lie and intrude into his home. But you need to tell me so I can get him for you."

The girl looked up from the spot she had been boring a hole into up at Alice, her eyes wide and shocked. No one believed her, she realised. They all thought she was some crazy freak trying to hurt them or obsessed with Edward, she knew that's what they thought. Even the seemingly kind one who was sat with her. Bella had a lot to say, but right now if she opened her mouth she would cry some more and that would make her look even crazier than she already does. So, she decides not to say anything at all and simply go back to her staring spot.

"Look here, little lady. We're being far too generous as it is in letting you stay here after that bizarre barging in, we should call the police and let them deal with you…"

"Emmett!" Alice cries out from her spot, trying to make him stop to no avail.

"No, let him Alice. He's right!" Tanya quips with a glare that goes unnoticed by the girl.

"If you want to wait here for Edward, you need to tell you basic freaking information like who the hell you are and what your name is. Otherwise, we have no reason to trust a complete stranger and let her stay here."

As the silence settles into the room, the girl decides that he's not being unreasonable. As scared as she is, of the situation, the people, and mostly the terrifying looking giant screaming down at her, she knows that if she was in their position, she would want to know who's under her roof too. Her name alone is no big deal.

"I'm..." She begins but is interrupted.

The front door is rushed open as Edward takes shelter from the drown pour outside, slamming shut once he is inside. The man in question shakes his head to remove any lingering raindrop in his hair as he notices the eerie silence. He knew his siblings and friends were here, he had seen their cars outside and Alice had mentioned it in passing when they had dinner at his parents' house last week. They were especially loud when they had these little gatherings at his house; he assumes it's the bachelor vibes of his house. He begins questioning them as he takes off his coat, his scrubs and lab coat still on underneath.

"Emmett? Alice? Are you guys alive because you're being awfully…quiet" he had walked into his living room at this point and noticed them all stood around his sofa. They all looked ominous, which dispelled any notion of amusement from Edward's tired eyes.

"What's the matter?" he asks again, more seriously this time.

None of his friends reply but Tanya who was covering his view of the sofa simply moves to the side.

The girl stands from the sofa with the glass still in her hand, using it to anchor her. If Edward refused to recognise her, she would break. She observes everything about him in the few seconds it takes him to respond. His looming 6 feet 2inch stature was comforting to her even now, so much softer and gentler in comparison to the other men in the room. His blue scrubs were worn in, and the white lab coat had seen better day, but it added to what he essentially was. She couldn't imagine Edward without his scrubs, his work was as much an embodiment of his person as his hair. His beautiful copper bronze hair, even after running through the rain, didn't lose its tousled shape. He had bags under his eyes which again didn't surprise here, even after all this time. His mouth has a perfect pinkish hue, and it was open just enough to indicate his shock. No matter how long it had been since they saw each other, he always looked like this. Like a worn out, strikingly beautiful, fallen angel.

His mind was a mess of thoughts. But the most prominent one was of how blindingly stunning she looked. Even with her mahogany hair in a frizzy mess down her back reaching her lower back, even with her shoes covered in mud, even with her eyes swollen and puffy and her skin blotchy red. She was a manifestation of beauty. Wait…her eyes, they were shining with unshed tears staring up at him wider than he remembered them to be so long ago. When was the last time he had seen her? He couldn't remember. But as she stared up at him like this, it felt like no time had passed at all.

Then he moved.

"Bella."

 **What are your theories? I would love to hear them! Review :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**I had a lot of fun reading your theories guys, some I was not expecting at all. I was really tempted to make all of your theories be the right one but Edward and Bella's past is not in my hands unfortunately….**

 **Enjoy and review :)**

For the two of them, the moment upon which they finally gazed at one another was an extremely private, intimate even, moment. But to those around them in the packed living room, it was a moment of suspense. The crazy night would finally come to a conclusion, did their brother and friend in fact know this girl? And if so, how? Their questions were answered as they had feared. He did in fact know her.

"Bella."

The doctor had just returned home from an excruciating 20-hour shift and it was safe to say that all he was expecting out of tonight was to enjoy a pizza with his friends and to head to sleep in a couple of hours. He was by no means prepared to face both the dazzling woman and his friends in one room. He despised himself in that moment, that even after all these years, he couldn't bring himself to mix these two aspects of his life. They were the two most important parts of him but they were also two very carefully separated parts. The thought sickens him. He's such a coward. But all those are halted as Bella stands stock still in front of him, she looks even more fragile since he saw her almost 14 months ago, had it been that long already, and Edward fears that if she lets of the glass cup she is clutching to her chest, she may just fall apart. And as if by magic, his thoughts are manifested into reality.

"E…Edward…I- ", she tries to speak but the night kept replaying in her mind, closing up her throat. Why couldn't she just have some goddamn control over her body, damn it! The dam had broken once again and she doesn't hold back. Running from that place, through the mud and into her car, driving for hours and hours with stopping unless her tears threatened to cloud her vision, it all came flooded back to her as she looked on at Edward. Even the strangers in this house, yelling at her and accusing her, threatening to send her to prison or hospital and kick her out. This was the first time in almost 48 hours that she felt safe. Finally, Edward was here.

All thought left Edward as he saw her begin to shake with tears taking over her face. He knew something has happened. Bella was by no means a fool or childish, he just knew that she wouldn't be here to throw a fit at him for not calling her or having contacted her for so long. No, there was something else. Something that scared her to her core. And Bella was one of the bravest people he had ever known, 'unlike me' he goads himself mentally.

It was as if his body was moving on autopilot when he saw this and before he knew it, he was pressed against her shaking body with his arms wrapped firmly around her. She finally let's go of the glass which falls between their feet and rolls under the sofa which neither pay any mind to. Her arms take a moment to react, they shake violently no matter how much she tries to calm herself, and when they find the back of his lab coat, they clutch to it for dear life.

They cling to each other desperately, for so many reasons than the ordinary spectator may even envisage. To the shocked bystanders in the room, their pairs embrace looked like one of comfort for the young scared girl but not one that a doctor would give to his patient. It looked like a lovers' embrace. They glance at each other nervously, surely the girl could not have been telling the truth. But…Edward was not proving her wrong. On the contrary, actually. But it didn't seem right of them to try and break their moment up for answers regardless of how eager they were for them, so they all move closer together and further away from the pair who are stood by the sofa.

Edward pulls away when the girls sobbing becomes less erratic, her breathing was still laboured causing her to take large intakes which hurt. He keeps his arms around her but moves her head from his shoulder to look at her. In that moment, he has forgotten that there are others in the room or that he wasn't supposed to mix these two parts of his life. None of it matter because Bella was hurt. He looks at her eyes, more swollen than he thought possible with bloodshot covering them, and the fear he sees reflect in them shakes him.

"Are you hurt? What happened?" He asks as soft as he could. Seeing her like this takes him back to a time long ago, when he had met her for the first time. No, that's a bad comparison. She had looked much worse back then. But he had never seen her like this after that first time, she never allowed anyone to see her like this. Especially not those she loved.

"I…He…again…he did it…again" her panicked breath and closed throat make it excruciatingly painful to form a sentence. She manages out the bare minimum but even that brings a fresh onslaught of memories of the day prior. Edward's reaction was as she had expected, he was livid and concerned. His face became marred with a scowl she rarely witnessed on him and he eyes narrowed, he looked almost scary. But he seemed to control himself as he sees the state she is in.

He settles her onto the sofa after much coercing and when he goes to get her a fresh glass of water, she refuses to let go of him. She begins almost hiccupping with sobs again, she couldn't stand to be without him again. Not right now. He doesn't try to get away. He simply asks Alice for another glass of water, the first he had acknowledged anyone else in the room since seeing Bella.

He sits on his knees in front of her on the sofa and keeps a tight grip on her hands. He just looks on at her and tell her to take small controlled breaths until she is calmer. Once he has her calmed down enough, neither say anything.

He just takes her hand and leads her up the tall staircase and into his room.

When the pair have made their way up the staircase, all havoc ensues in the living room.

"What the heck was that?"

"Oh, my goodness, she was telling the truth!"

"Why the heck wouldn't he tell us that he's seeing someone?"

"Because she looks like she's still in freaking college!"

"CALM DOWN!" Jasper is forced to order the room to settle down. He had cupped his hands around his mouth because lord knows nobody would hear him otherwise. It takes a moment after his exclamation but the room does manage to become quieter. Nobody bothers moving though, they are all still in shock.

"You don't think he's actually dating her, do you? She looks like she could easily be 10 or 15 years younger than us – practically a child!" Tanya tries to make sense of it. She refuses to believe that Edward would go from her to that _girl_ who had just had several melt downs in the span of the last hour. No. He wouldn't.

Alice gives her a sideway glance, borderline glare, and crosses her arms. Her protective instincts were kicking in, it pissed her off when Tanya spoke about Edward like she even knew him anymore. No matter how much they all wanted to maintain the peace, Alice was angry.

"Don't act like he's some sort of predator. She's clearly an adult. Just because he acknowledged her and comforted her, doesn't mean they're together. And even if they are, you're the last person who has the right to judge him." Even though their recognition of one another had made Alice doubt her earlier assumptions that the girl, Bella, was lying about being her brother's girlfriend, Alice wasn't entirely convinced. She would have to hear it from Edward herself, even though it would hurt her deeply if Bella was telling the truth. It would mean Edward hadn't trusted Alice enough to share this with her.

Tanya looks hurt at Alice's comment while the rest of the group has become extremely awkward, not knowing what to say. Emmett didn't want to speak either way since Alice was his sister but Tanya's cousin was his wife, so he, like everyone else, just made awkward eye-contact with everyone else. Tanya doesn't know how to respond herself, they rarely made comments about her like this even though she knew that, sometimes, they were dying to.

Rosalie breaks the tension calmly as ever, "Maybe they are dating. Or maybe there's something else going on. I don't see why he wouldn't tell us, even if she is questionably young."

"There's only one way to know for sure. We have to wait for Edward to explain." Jasper pipes in and taking his wife's hand, leads her to the couch to demonstrate that they should wait and be rational.

He is swiftly followed by the rest of his friends who take their seats to await the explanation.


	4. Chapter 4

**I really enjoyed the feedback on the last chapter. Thanks for leaving your comments. Oh, and sorry about the typos, I didn't have time to check over everything! Enjoy**

The group had waited for well over an hour before tired yawns began, that was when they finally decided to call it a night, albeit reluctantly, and left for their own homes.

"It's better if we speak to him anyways, give him time to process and then explain" Alice rationalises as the group begin towards the front door.

"Yeah and as interested as I am, I'm ready to sleep for 14 hours" Jacob lets out a dramatic yawn accompanied by his arms reach over his head to stretch.

"Amen, brother," Emmett pipes in from near his car as he waits for his wife to climb in. Jasper and Alice wait for him to pull out his massive jeep from the driveway first and watch as Tanya jumps into Jacob's car. She had been quiet for the remainder of their night and had sulked in the corner, 'not that anyone cares' Alice thinks harshly.

"Ready to go, darlin'?"

"Yep…oh, wait where's my cell?"

"You probably let it on the sofa. Hurry on back," his southern drawl more apparent now that the couple are alone. He knew his wife loved it when his accent was more evident so he made sure to lay it on thick when they were alone.

Alice rushes inside and starts patting down the big sofa that rests in the middle of Edward's huge home. Edward had the biggest home out of his siblings, which none of them could seem to understand since he was also the only by himself, but they always appreciated the enormity of the place. It just made the bachelor pad seem even more cool. 'Well, maybe not a bachelor pad anymore', Alice muses as her hand comes across a cool metal trapped between the leather seat and the back of the sofa. She pulls it out with rigor and turns to go back to her waiting husband. In her rush, she missed her brother descending the stairs until she was right before him.

He tucks the covers around Bella and sit on the bed beside her, taking her hand into his. She looks tired even in her sleep. Edward didn't think it was possible to feel worse than he already but every time his stopped wandering the room and fell on Bella, the pit in his stomach grew deeper.

'Why did I have to fail you again?' he thinks. He had promised himself that he would never let her feel this way again. That he would always protect her, care for her. Love her. How could he do that when he was too much of a coward to even face her? Edward knew what _that man_ was capable of, he had seen the aftermath first hand and yet, 'yet I couldn't do anything'. The more he pondered on it, the more the vein on his forehead pulsated. It was making him nauseous. He wipes away the remnants of the tears on his face and makes to stand up. As he does so, he hears the door opening downstairs. Maybe if his family is gone, he can go downstairs and leave something by Bella's bedside to eat in case she wakes up at night. He just knows that she hasn't eaten anything since.

He loses his own appetite at the thought.

As he heads downstairs, he can see that the lights are off in the living room and through the glass encased walls, he notices that his siblings' cars are no longer in the drive way. He doesn't even want to begin thinking about his explanation yet. All he wants to do is focus on Bella. As he reaches the bottom of the stairs, he is surprised to see Alice rushing around the living room and almost sprinting towards the front door, her head is inclined towards the glass windows so he knows she wouldn't have seen him yet. He briefly considers slipping away into the unlit hallway but doesn't have the energy to hide. Not tonight.

For a moment, she doesn't know what to say to him, he looks tired. Not the kind of tired he is after work but as if the burdens of the whole world are on his shoulders and he would bear it silently. She recognises this look. It reminds her of when Rosalie miscarried her first child and by the time they reached the hospital, Emmett was sitting outside on the chairs with his head in his hands. He had this same look on his face back them. Like he had let her down, as if he should be blamed for the misfortunes out of his control.

Now she thinks it was a good think to have everyone come back tomorrow, because tonight would be too cruel on him. She could see he had cried, his eyes were swollen and the bloodshot still remained in his left eye. His cheeks were flushed which looked even more apparent against his pale skin. He looked tired and scared. It broke her heart more than she thought possible. She clutches her phone in both hands in hopes of holding her tears at bay.

"Is she asleep? Bella, I mean" she asks tentatively.

"Yes, she just fell asleep. She wore herself out," He blinks, finally. Rubbing a hand across his face, as if that would wipe away his worries.

Alice reaches out her small hands and wraps them around her brother. If she can't do anything else, hopefully she can at least provide him with some comfort. His arms fold over her almost immediately, as if this is all he had been doing for the last hour. He reminds her how safe it feels to have Edward looking after her and protecting her. In high school, when Jasper's family had to return back to Texas for his grandma's funeral during the school term, Mike Newton followed her around like an idiot for the whole 2 weeks, hoping to steal away a coveted Cullen for himself. No matter how much she rejected his advances, the guy just couldn't take a hint. Edward was so busy with earning extra credits to try to get his scholarship and make Carlisle proud, that she didn't want to disturb him by even mentioning it to him. Eventually, Mike thought the best way to win her heart would be to surprise her with a kiss. Maybe he had terrible timing because he decided to do it in the parking lot after school, the day that she was riding with Edward, and when her brother saw her say no and Mike kiss her anyways, he saw red. That's the only time in her life that Alice can remember Edward being violent because he beat the shit out of Mike Newton that day. He was saved from suspension because he was more than the model student but she'll never forget that even after jacking up his fists in breaking Mike's face, Edward came over to her and asked if _she_ was okay. After all that! And then he just hugged her for such a long time and told her he was sorry he couldn't be there to stop him and that he'll never leave her alone again. He has stayed true to his promise to this day.

No matter how much she tried to be strong for him, remembering that day let the dam loose as she cried silently into her brother's t-shirt.

"Don't cry. Please." She hates how selfish she's being. When Edward has clearly just been through a lot and he has probably been helping Bella stop crying and now, here she was, making him comfort her too. She swiftly wipes away the tears that had fallen and shifts away from his hug to look at him.

"I won't." And he just pats her head like when they were kids.

"I don't need to know tonight, you don't have to say anything. But, if she is who she says she is to you, I'm _so_ sorry that you felt you had to keep it from us. From me. I'm sorry, Edward,"

He lets out a sigh, of defeat and of exhaustion, and he put his hands in his pockets and just smiles sadly at her.

"Let's talk tomorrow. You should get some rest,"

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